The present invention relates to a device for dispensing at least one thread at a feed or drop of a circular machine for knitting hosiery or the like, particularly for single-cylinder circular machines.
It is known that in single-cylinder circular machines for knitting hosiery or the like the threads used to produce the knitted item are dispensed by means of appropriate thread guides which are arranged laterally to the needle cylinder and face the needle work area with their end through which the corresponding thread is dispensed.
Proximate to the region occupied by a thread guide or by a group of thread guides, which constitutes a feed or drop of the machine, the needles that must knit are first raised, so that their beak moves beyond the dispensed thread, and then lowered, in order to form a new loop of knitting with the dispensed thread.
The position occupied by the thread dispensing point of the thread guides, in relation to the region in which the needles rise and then fall in order to form new loops of knitting, is crucial for the correct knitting-in of the thread dispensed by the thread guides. The position where the needles begin to descend can vary, during the various kinds of knitting that the machine can perform, for example, when the length of the loops of knitting is changed through a movement, parallel to the axis of the needle cylinder, of the lowering cam with respect to the needle cylinder or vice versa.
In this case, the angular position of the thread dispensing point of one or more thread guides around the needle cylinder may not be the most suitable for correct engagement of the thread by the needles that are made to knit at that feed or drop of the machine, and abnormal knitting-in can occur, leading to defects in the item being formed.
In order to solve this problem, during the adjustment of the machine the thread guide or guides are arranged in a position which is suitable for the various operating conditions of the machine.
However, this solution is not always able to achieve fully satisfactory knitting-in in the various operating conditions of the machine.